DANANG - Anex has announced plans to bring Russian travelers on direct flights to Danang from April 8 to late October this year.

In the first year of launching this service, Anex will organize Danang tours for tourists from the Russian cities of Novosibirsk, Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk. More than 14,000 seats on the direct flights have been sold to date, said Nguyen Ngoc Luong, sales manager of Anex Vietnam, adding that the tours will be part of an annual program.

He told the Saigon Times on February 20 that the company has already booked hotels and resorts in Danang with overnight stays of up to 13 days per trip. He said that Russians enjoy long holidays, shopping, dining out and visiting spas, boosting the city’s tourism sector.

“Anex will increase flights between cities in Russia and Danang if the weather is favorable as Russian tourists love swimming and sunbathing,” Luong said, adding that the company is sticking to the commitments it made to municipal leaders at a press conference to announce the flights last August.

Luong added that the Russian government has not made any moves to prohibit or discourage citizens from traveling to Vietnam. In addition, the company has been taking steps to respond to the coronavirus epidemic to support its partners.

This includes offering airfare promotion packages for tour bookings in Vietnam during the epidemic. “Currently, Anex is subsidizing fares to continue flights to Vietnam,” he reported.

Besides this, the company regularly updates its customers, tourists and sales agents in Russia on the status of the coronavirus outbreak in Vietnam based on information received from the Vietnamese Ministry of Health. Anex has asked its agents to notify travelers of the entry restrictions applicable to visitors who have traveled to or stayed in China over the past 14 days before arriving in Vietnam.

The company also updates tourists on which parts of Vietnam, including Danang, are safe for vacationers.

After Nha Trang and Phan Thiet, Danang is considered a potential market for Russian tourists, according to the representative of Anex, which brings the most tourists from Russia to Vietnam (65%).

Cao Tri Dung, chairman of the Danang Tourism Association, explained that apart from Danang’s beautiful beaches, accommodation is another important factor that makes Russians return to the city. “Compared with five years ago when Russian tourists gradually withdrew from Danang two years after chartered flights were launched, Danang is now home to more hotels that can serve Russian tourists on long stays,” stated Dung, adding that today 95% of guests from Russia are staying at three- to five-star hotels and resorts.